France destination wedding in a dreamy chateau

How can this France destination wedding inspire you?

It may not look like it but Roselina & Morten’s France destination wedding was rather simple. The couple focused on a few key elements of their wedding day and let go of the rest.

Roselina & Morten are professional dancers constantly traveling and competing worldwide. With their busy lifestyles they did not have much time to plan their France destination wedding. So they decided to focus on the following elements: beautiful venue, great photographs and personal wedding ceremony.

They did not have a wedding planner or day of-coordinator, so the choice of vendors was crucial: The wedding venue took care of catering and floral decoration. The photographer guided the couple with a wedding day timeline to make sure that they would have enough time to shoot all decisive moments and couple photos under great light conditions. As their English speaking celebrant in Paris I created their bespoke wedding ceremony, coordinated cues with musicians and photographer and guided them from the moment the guests took their seats until the group photos after the ceremony. So with three main vendors all coordinating their respective part of the wedding day with each other and within the overall flow of the day, the couple did not have much to worry about.

Main Wedding Day Advice: Keep it simple & beautiful. Define your priorities and focus on a few main elements that are most important for you. Choose your wedding vendors according to your needs: Some vendors show up to simply provide their service, some vendors go beyond that and coordinate their services with your other vendors and within the flow of your wedding day.

In the following paragraphs I will share more details about the destination wedding venue and the wedding ceremony. Also don’t miss the amazing love story of Roselina & Morten further below.

Wedding ceremony – simple & romantic

Consequently Roselina & Morten wanted me to create a simple wedding ceremony with one main focus: Their beautiful love story. Most importantly they wanted to celebrate that they had managed to build a beautiful relationship as both an international couple and professional dance partners. Don’t miss their great love story below in the post!

They also kept the processional very simple: Only the bride walked in alone – no bridesmaids, no groomsmen, no ring bearer or flower girls. Here again as they don’t see their loved ones living all over the world, they did not want to spend much time coordinating contributions or processional with them. So they kept it simple with their main focus on their love story.

Main Ceremony Advice: As your officiant in France I want you to know that their is no right or wrong way to create your symbolic ceremony. The only right way is YOUR way. So a good wedding ceremony is when the ceremony feels entirely YOU. So simple or sumptuous is really just a question of taste and personality and not of quality!

Wedding venue – dreamy chateau

Morten said about their choice of venue: “We found Chateau De Courcelles Le Roy online and we fell in love with the castle and the stunning nature around.” The chateau was a great pick for them as it is not far from Paris, provides a beautiful backdrop for ceremony and photos and offers accommodation on sight.

The inside of the actual castle is closed as the interior hasn’t been renovated. That’s why this chateau kept its dreamy and enchanted charm from once upon a time. So Roselina & Morten used the castle as a backdrop for their wedding ceremony and couple photos – and I’m sure you agree that it looks drop dead gorgeous!

The reception took place in what used to be the stables and which were completely redone to host events. The couple rented the castle for the entire weekend to spend time with their loved ones. What originally was the orangery and servant’s quarters is now like a vacation home with guest rooms. And some of the rooms are beautifully renovated with historical interior.

Main Venue Advice: Get a venue where you can stay for a weekend with your loved ones. First you really get to spend time with them. Secondly it makes wedding day coordination easier as everybody is already on sight. Watch out: Most castles can only accommodate a smaller number of guests. So renting an entire castle for your loved ones may only work if you plan a rather intimate wedding!

Love story – international dancer couple in love with Paris

Roselina & Morten are both professional dancers (Latin American dances). They met on dance competitions around the world and kept in touch even if Roselina lived in Hongkong (originally from Bulgaria) and Morten in Denmark. After a few years they had the chance to work together as dance partners. Roselina jokingly said that it would be nice to meet over lunch to discuss this possibility. However Morten took this joke quite seriously: He hung up the phone, packet his suitcase and flew from Copenhagen to Hong Kong to have lunch and spend a few days together. When they met in Hongkong they clicked not only on a professional level. Morten said: “We immediately became very close. In fact, I never returned from this trip to Hong Kong but stayed to live there with her.”

A few years later Morten proposed to Roselina in Paris. Paris is a special place for the couple as they have been traveling there on a regular basis to win dance competitions together and enjoy some romantic days in the city of love. They loved walking the streets of Paris. It was also during an evening stroll when Morten asked Roselina to marry him near the sparkling Eiffel Tower.

So it was obvious to them that their wedding had to take place in France as well. Roselina said: “So many of our dreams have come true in Paris and France has always been one of our favorite places in the world. We got engaged in Paris and it only made sense to us that we should get married in beautiful France.”

Vendors of this France destination wedding:

Venue: Chateau de Courcelles le Roy
Photographer: Paris Wedding Photographer Pierre Torset. Feel free to also check his blogpost to get a more photographic perspective on this wedding and Wedding Chateau near Paris
Officiant: The Paris Officiant
Band: Whisper Note Jazz